What is The Gun Music Box?

The Gun Music Box is almost the same as a normal customisable music box you might find in a toy shop. The Difference? We made it bigger and replaced the steel combs with ten working pistols; so, instead of playing music, it shoots the beat.

How Fresh is Your Idea?

The idea of a gun as an instrument is not a new. If you look at our inspiration wall you can see many different gun instruments that have already been created. We began our research online and then took to the streets to visit some of the artists we’d found in our search creating interesting musical machines. On our journey we metAkko Goldenbeld a Dutch craftsman who made a music box that plays the sounds of Eindhoven.

Akko Goldenbeld assembling his music box.

Which building in Eindhoven is it?

Then we visited a music box museum in Utrecht, and brought a couple of toy music boxes to play around with and understand how they work. With all this new information we set out to try and make something different, something that hasn't been done before.

The old music box at Museum Speelklok in Utrecht.

The music box doll at Museum Speelklok in Utrecht.

What Challenges Did You Face?

Our first main challenge was to trying to figure out the mechanism, which would trigger the guns. Jorg Sprave the famous slingshot genius kindly offered to help us, and made a prototype with a cap gun.

Jorg Sprave making the prototype in his studio.

Testing the prototype with a cap gun.

The prototype. Close-up.

His prototype was turned into a larger version, before coming the frame for the final all steel music box. But that wasn’t our biggest challenge. With a mechanism that worked, now we needed to get all the guns and licences for them - this was very time consuming.

Tadas Maksimovas and Algimantas Slapikas making the bigger prototype out of wood.

Algimantas Slapikas finishing the prototype.

Testing the prototype with an air gun.

Once the instrument was made it was time to make a music track with it. We wanted to write a song emphasizing the main concept: make music, not war. This is where up-and-coming music artist, MC Mesijus joined us to make a music track using The Gun Music Box.

Tadas Maksimovas assembling The Gun Music Box.

All the guns are ready.

Tadas Maksimovas making the crank handle.

The crank handle almost done.

How Did You Adjust the Beat?

To keep the neighbors happy and not accidentally shoot anyone while playing it we used a Programmable WoodenBarrel-Organ. Where we altered it slightly to play the same notes no matter which key is kicked. Once the beat was created we tested it on this toy and later transferred the positions of each pin to the main gun music box.

Adas Gecevicius testing the beat on The Gun Music Box.

The video shoot with MC Mesijus.

We also shot a great music video. But after mass shootings at Bataclan concert venue in Paris our manifesto to make music with guns took on a new meaning, which we didn’t want to achieve.

Any More ‘Hurdles’ ?

There were other ‘hurdles’ throughout the project. We found out automatic guns are very unpredictable; the bullets would get stuck inside the barrel and the triggers would break easily. Having said that, the most memorable ‘hurdle’ is when we didn't want to buy a Wooden Barrel-Organ, as it is rare and rather expensive, so we thought we would 3D print it.

The bullet lodged in the barrel.

3D printing the Barrel-Organ.

It took us some time as the printer kept stopping, the quality was poor and worst yet, it didn't actually make any sound, so we ended up buying the Organ anyway. Still, in the end it was worth it as we used it a lot and now we have a nice music box collection.

The music box collection.

It was once said: “Guns don’t kill people; people do.” This was our way of using guns for a more positive reason than killing, by converting them into instruments and creating music. Not everything worked out perfectly but what is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?

Special Thanks

Thanks to my loyal camera dude Linas Justice for following me on this long journey. Thanks to my first sculpture teacher Algimantas Slapikas for helping me to make the actual music box. And thanks to everyone else involved. I salute you!

IDEAS NEVER MADE

During some years in advertising the shelf got fuller with rejected sketches and storyboards. Some ideas are considered stupid, but some are worth presenting in one way or another. I've started animating the ones I liked the most.